Mozambique: MSF suspends activities in Mocímboa da Praia as violence surges
Pemba, 26 September 2025 – The upsurge of violence in northern Mozambique is making it extremely difficult to deliver medical activities in a safe manner in multiple areas of Cabo Delgado province. Following attacks this month in Mocímboa da Praia, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has taken the painful decision to temporarily suspend activities in the town and district. MSF calls on all armed actors to actively ensure the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers and medical facilities from the ongoing violence.
“We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence and its direct impact on every aspect of people’s lives, including access to healthcare,” says Víctor García Leonor, MSF head of operations for Mozambique. “Hundreds of thousands of people are in dire need of medical and humanitarian assistance in Cabo Delgado. But insecurity is continuously cutting them off from reaching it. This results in preventable deaths and suffering.”
Since early September, Mocímboa da Praia has experienced armed incursions. Armed men have brutally killed and injured civilians, have reportedly threatened the population and looted goods. These attacks reached neighbourhoods located just a few kilometres from the town centre and have led several thousands1 to flee the town. In recent months, violence has also intensified in other districts of Cabo Delgado, spilling over into neighbouring provinces.
As of 26 September, MSF has suspended all medical activities in Mocímboa da Praia. Services were being carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. They include the emergency room and maternity ward at the District Rural Hospital of Mocímboa da Praia, other lifesaving care at the facility and the referral system that enables patients with severe conditions to be transferred to other facilities. Mental health and psychosocial support as well as outreach activities run by community health workers in remote areas are also suspended. Some patients requiring specialised care have been referred to health facilities in Pemba and Mueda.
Throughout 2025, due to insecurity, MSF has been forced to suspend temporarily some medical activities across locations in Cabo Delgado on several occasions, from days to weeks at a time.
"MSF remains committed to standing by the people of Cabo Delgado and to resume activities in Mocímboa da Praia as soon as we obtain guarantees that our staff will be able to work in a safe manner,” says García Leonor.
The district of Mocímboa da Praia has an estimated population of about 150,000 to 200,000 people. The town was first attacked in October 2017, at the onset of the conflict, and in the years that followed it saw waves of violence and large-scale displacement before families gradually began to return. The attacks in September have been the most violent incidents in years. Amid widening humanitarian funding cuts and an extremely volatile situation, communities in Cabo Delgado are increasingly neglected and with fewer options to access basic services after
nearly eight years of conflict. Around 430,000 people are still internally displaced1. Many have repeatedly fled and live in fear and uncertainty. Moreover, the health system, maimed by conflict and natural disasters, is under enormous strain and becomes overwhelmed with new emergencies such as sudden outbursts of displacement.
"Time and again we call on all armed actors and stakeholders to protect civilians, medical facilities and humanitarian workers from violence,” says García Leonor. “Safe and unhindered access to healthcare is vital for communities caught in conflict and their freedom of movement should be guaranteed when they are seeking protection.”
In Cabo Delgado, MSF also works in Mueda, Macomia and Palma. We provide general outpatient consultations, emergency care, maternity and paediatric services, treatment for HIV and TB and mental health and psychosocial support. In the first half of 2025, we carried out nearly 100,000 outpatient consultations and conducted mental health group activities for over 35,000 people. We run mobile clinics and outreach activities, refer patients to health centres and support medical facilities and hospitals in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
Patients wait at a corridor of the Rural hospital in Mocímboa da Praia, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado. Location: Mocimboa da Praia | Date: 15/10/2024 | Photographer: Marilia Gurgel
With many peripheral health centres destroyed by conflict that has affected the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado since late 2017, much of the population relies on Nanduadua health Center, in Mocímboa da Praia town, for essential care. Location: Mocimboa da Praia | Date: 16/10/2024 | Photographer: Marilia Gurgel
Read more about our activities in Mozambique
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About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, we currently run a non-communicable diseases (NCDs) project in Butterworth, Eastern Cape province, where we support the Department of Health (DoH) in improving care for patients with diabetes and hypertension. The project focuses on improving screening, diagnosis, management, and prevention of NCDs through advocacy, research, health promotion, training, and mentorship of Community Healthcare Workers.
MSF is also recognised as one of the pioneers in providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector. It started the first HIV programme in South Africa in 1999. The organisation's earlier interventions in the country have primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape). The Eshowe project was handed over to DoH in 2023 after 12 years of operations. The Khayelitsha project was closed in 2020 after 22 years of activities and campaigning for improved HIV and TB treatment.
Other projects we have been involved in include our Migrant Project in the country's capital, Tshwane, which was handed over to authorities and a local Community-Based Organisation after building the capacity to work with undocumented populations. We also previously offered free, high-quality, and confidential medical care to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Rustenburg, North West province.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
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